Kentucky mayor to launch bid for Rand Paul’s Senate seat

A Democratic Kentucky mayor is targeting GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul’s seat in the Senate.

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray is filing the paperwork for his candidacy early Tuesday, according to The Lexington Herald Leader.

{mosads}“I certainly think that he’s been spending more time focused on his presidential campaign that he has in the interests of Kentucky, and because of that, he’s vulnerable,” Gray said Monday evening.  “I feel like there’s an environment in Washington that’s toxic, and people across the country, including Kentucky, are looking for alternatives. 

“I know what it’s like to challenge conventional thinking and conventional patterns. What I believe people want is performance and results. That’s what they are about.”

Gray also dismissed his past support for President Obama as a non-issue among Kentucky’s voters.

“I did,” he said when asked if he had voted for Obama in previous elections. “That doesn’t mean I agree with everything he does. This campaign is going to be about the difference between Rand Paul’s perspective on things and Jim Gray’s.

“The fighting that’s gone on in Washington has compromised everybody, including the president. It hurts everybody to have this level of acrimony,” he added.

Gray, 62, said that he expects a fierce battle over the coming year.

“Clearly, it will be tough,” he said. “[I am] not given to tilting at windmills [and] have no illusions.”

National Republicans greeted Gray’s announcement with skepticism Tuesday given his ties with Obama’s policies.

“Since their most recent wipeout in November, Democrats have been desperate to find a warm body to run for Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seat,” said Greg Blair, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.  “Like those who came before him, Jim Gray will be sunk by ObamaCare, the war on coal and the rest of Barack Obama’s toxic agenda.”

Bluegrass State Democrats have struggled against high-profile Republicans in recent election cycles.

Gov. Matt Bevin won election last November, for example, while Democrats also failed at unseating Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014.